The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected Rider Jet Center as the temporary base for its “Flying Laboratory,” according to a community announcement.
This initiative is part of NOAA’s Baltimore Air Quality and Marcellus Survey, which aims to investigate atmospheric photochemistry and emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., region and Marcellus Shale.
Rider Jet Center is providing hangar space, a research office and ground support for the project.
The NOAA Twin Otter aircraft and the NOAA Air Resources Car mobile laboratory are being used for comprehensive aircraft and mobile measurements. Several flights are scheduled to depart and land from Hagerstown Regional Airport daily.
The project began June 30 and is expected to continue through mid-August.
About a dozen scientists and crew members are staying in Hagerstown to process collected data, run tests and more.
The aircraft is equipped with a sophisticated scanning Doppler lidar, the most powerful sensor of its type in the world.
The project aims to improve understanding of air pollution formation and greenhouse gas emissions, which is crucial for urban decision-makers addressing air quality and climate change issues.
Rider Jet Center’s management expressed satisfaction in hosting the research project.
“Rider Jet Center has been fantastic to work with. We have all kinds of scientific equipment onboard the Otter that needs to be calibrated before takeoff. The Rider Jet Center team has been working with us to ensure there is no power interruption between calibration and engine starts. This is huge for our operations,” NOAA Operations Center Lieutenant Commander Nick Pawlenko said in the announcement.
The aircraft is based in Florida, while the scientists are from Colorado, Maryland and other parts of the United States.
For more information see: NOAA CSL Projects: BAQMS 2025 and https://csl.noaa.gov/groups/csl7/measurements/2025baqms/whitepaper.pdf.